Hyderabad: Much before #MeToo wave, the Raj Bhavan of Andhra Pradesh witnessed its occupant Governor Narayana Dutt Tiwari leave the office unceremoniously on charges of inappropriate behavior. He passed away on Thursday. He was 93 after a local TV channel beamed footage of sleaze in the palace.
Narayan Dutt Tiwari was sworn in as the 21st governor of Andhra Pradesh in August 2007 and held that position for 26 months. The Raj Bhavan sex scandal shook the nation’s conscience as Andhra Pradesh was seen on the fast track of development with Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy as the chief minister during those times.
During his tenure at Hyderabad, a retired professor Ujjwala Sharma’s son Rohith Shekhar filed a paternity suit to claim he was Tiwari’s offspring. After contesting the claim for years, Tiwari not only accepted Rohith as his son but also tied the knot with Ujjwala at the age of 89. Tiwari is the second governor of Andhra Pradesh to leave under a cloud.
The late Ram Lal was removed in the wake of the pro-democracy agitation in August 1984 when he unceremoniously dismissed the popularly-elected government of N. T. Rama Rao and installed Nadendla BhaskaraRao.
Raj Bhavan, which is mostly secluded for common men, had become a place of intrigue, subterfuge as the resident acted as an agent of the Centre.
Born in 1925 in Nainital district, Tiwari served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh four times and became the first elected chief minister of the newly-created Uttarakhand in 2002. He held important portfolios including finance, commerce, external affairs and petroleum at the Centre. He floated the Congress (Tiwari) in 1995 following differences with P.V. Narasimha Rao but later merged the party with the Congress.
A police complaint was filed against Tiwari for “sexually abusing girls, blackmail and misuse of office” and the Raj Bhavan staff were interrogated by police about details related to the scandal, alleged to be the result of the fallout of a mining deal.
